Thread: Ideas for my front yard

I am finally getting around to doing something with my front yard and re-doing the existing landsaping that is there. Previous owners or builders put some stepped retaining walls in on the slope in front of my steps and did a terrible job. The top wall is leaning back pretty far, and several of the blocks have sunken and made the walls look uneven. I have to tear it all out anyway because I need to backfill some dirt underneath the landing and level out the area above the hill. I've attached a picture of what it currently looks like, and wondering what else I could do there instead of the same retaining walls. I think i'd rather get rid of the walls completely if there is something else I can do there that would look decent and not have problems with mulch or rock staying put. I'm no expert when it comes to landcape design, and would prefer not to much if any money into it. Going to be re-sodding the whole front yard, and aside from any plants i'd rather not spend much. Ideally, i would just add a bed all around the steps if that would look decent.https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...0&l=0191b568ec

I am finally getting around to doing something with my front yard and re-doing the existing landsaping that is there. Previous owners or builders put some stepped retaining walls in on the slope in front of my steps and did a terrible job. The top wall is leaning back pretty far, and several of the blocks have sunken and made the walls look uneven. I have to tear it all out anyway because I need to backfill some dirt underneath the landing and level out the area above the hill. I've attached a picture of what it currently looks like, and wondering what else I could do there instead of the same retaining walls. I think i'd rather get rid of the walls completely if there is something else I can do there that would look decent and not have problems with mulch or rock staying put. I'm no expert when it comes to landcape design, and would prefer not to much if any money into it. Going to be re-sodding the whole front yard, and aside from any plants i'd rather not spend much. Ideally, i would just add a bed all around the steps if that would look decent.https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...0&l=0191b568ec

Poor job on that retaining wall man! Depending on the area, you could get some fieldstone boulders or limestone outcroppings instead of a complete retaining wall. You would want to use good size boulders and most likely would want a skid or mini EX to use. That Block is pretty rough looking I would not reuse.

One of our customers had a yard a little similar to that. It was a lot less sq. footage. But it was similar in the sense that before we came in, it had a slope toward the driveway and toward the sidewalk. Nothing but grass. And the grass was unusable and not attractive. So we flattened out his yard with a nice segmental retaining wall. Added some outdoor lighting, added a nice level lawn, some ornamental planting, and a small rock bubbler fountain. This is what it turned out like (below). You could do something similar, just on a little larger scale.

I like what you did with that, however my driveway is fairly narrow and often we find ourselves stepping on the lawn when getting in/out of the trucks. If I put a retaining wall along the driveway we wouldn't be able to open the doors all the way if that makes sense, both my wife and I drive trucks that take up a good bit of space. Plus my front yard slopes in 3 directions and I have no sidewalk so I don't think that would really gain me much. For now I think I am going to just get some boulders for near the bottom of the driveway to help control erosion of mulch or rock. I've torn out the walls already and it's just bare dirt, hasn't really washed down too much like I thought it would in some heavy rain. Just going to keep it simple and do a nice bed up the hill and around the landing, sort of how it was but with no walls. I'm going to bring in some compost and till up the yard well before laying sod. Just gotta figure out what to plant there that would look good on the hill, something low maintenance as I don't have any time at all to keep up with the stuff at my house, it doesn't pay nearly as well as work for customers Posted via Mobile Device